Baby Friendly Business

---

What is it all about? 

Baby Friendly Business is a project created by the Baby Friendly Initiative Working Group which is comprised of members from the health region and Yorkton Tribal Council. Our goal is to address one of the reasons why mothers quit breastfeeding early -- they do not feel comfortable breastfeeding in public. 

Breastfeeding mothers have expressed there did not seem to be places for them to go to breastfeed their babies when they were out in public places. We invite local and community businesses to become progressive leaders and join our project to provide an atmosphere within your business that supports breastfeeding mothers and families removing barriers that might influence a mother’s decision to begin or continue with breastfeeding.

What do you need to do?

If you choose to become a Baby Friendly Business you need to:

• Post a decal or signage in a highly visible area that indicates you welcome breastfeeding in your business;
• Share information with your employees that is provided in The Baby Friendly Business Toolkit to ensure all staff understand and support the project’s principle to support breastfeeding families.
• Consider displaying a lifesize cutout of a mother breastfeeding in your place of business to further show support to breastfeeding families. Contact us for more information to do this.
• Create a supportive environment. Not all businesses can provide an area specifically for a mother to breastfeed. Being supportive means you welcome a mom to breastfeed anytime, anywhere since only babies can determine when they are hungry.

What is important for you to know? 

• Breastfeeding is a basic human right. The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission recognizes breastfeeding as a human right. See www.saskatchewanhumanrights.ca.
• The rights of a breastfeeding woman are also protected under the Federal Labor Standards Maternity-Related Reassignments and Leave, Maternity Leave and Paternity Leave. 
• Breastmilk is valuable and has continually proven through evidence based research to provide many health benefits for baby from birth to later years lowering health costs to our communities -- "Human Milk for Human Babies”.
• Breastfeeding is free and as food security becomes more of an issue in our communities we need to recognize how important it is to support breastfeeding to insure the future for our children.
• Breastfeeding is environmentally friendly. There is no packaging or waste. By supporting breastfeeding families you are showing environmental responsibility.

What’s happening elsewhere in the province?

Read about what's happening in Regina and Saskatoon.

Contact us

Heidi Russell, heidi.russell@saskhealthauthority.ca

Shari Spearman, shari.spearman@saskhealthauthority.ca